Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

Without the presence of the stranger Crazy John, Lacie immediately relaxed a lot. Her originally meticulous standard business sitting posture became slack, and she lost her elegant and calm demeanor in front of others and returned to her usual laziness.

She collapsed completely, leaning back in her chair. She turned her head to look at Charles and asked curiously:

"Now you can finally say what you have "seen" through the tracing spell, right?"

Charles remained silent.

He stared at the cane sword in front of him, with dark brown blood staining its blood grooves, and a trance-like expression as if he was in a dream gradually emerged on his face.

After a while, when Lacier's curiosity finally reached its peak, he finally turned around and said to Lacier:

"I have disabled the forbidden spell. Please use the soundproof spell."

Lacey was stunned.

Ciel's tone was more resolute than ever before.

If she remembered correctly, the last time Charles was so serious was in Lentiheim, facing the mad mistress.

She instantly realized the seriousness of the situation, so while she was whining in her heart, complaining that the hero was indeed the biggest troublemaker in the Pan-Continent, causing explosions wherever he went, she quickly and skillfully set up a soundproofing spell, and then told Ciel:

"Okay, tell me, what's going on?"

Charles then slowly told Laciel everything he had seen through the tracing spell.

The shadow, the wish, the tainted investigator, and the ending he ultimately chose - to die with dignity as a human being.

Lacey shuddered after hearing this.

At this moment, she finally understood why Charles said that the information could not be shared with Mad John, because if the information provided by the tracing spell was correct, then Mad John might really have a big problem.

After all, whether in their "story" or in the "story" of the old investigator, Crazy John was the instigator of everything - it was Crazy John who led them step by step into the vortex of Diesel, even though Crazy John had tried hard to prove his innocence to them...

But who would believe him?

The first rule in the investigator's manual is "Every investigator should trust his or her own judgment first when performing his or her duties."

Rachel believed in her own judgment and was convinced that there was something wrong with Crazy John.

But it's not just Crazy John who has problems.

And the whole Diesel thing.

The witch thought about it and couldn't help but raise her head and secretly glanced at the tavern waiter who was dozing on the counter.

Then she poked Ciel's arm with her wand and asked in a low voice:

"You say... are these Diesel people in front of us all disguised as black shadows? In fact, the real Diesel people have all been polluted like the old investigator?"

His mind and body were eaten away, but he thought he was safe and sound, unaware that he had turned into a monster.

Thus, the world was distorted.

Contaminated cognition makes you firmly believe that there is nothing wrong with you, but rather that the problem lies with someone other than you.

In your eyes, they all turned into black shadows, so the old investigator would not hesitate to kill the Diesel people who approached him, because in his eyes, those Diesel people had been contaminated.

But if that's the case...

Laceier's expression also became serious.

While being a witch, she was also an investigator for the White Tower.

So she looked at Charles and whispered the most crucial question:

"If the one who was contaminated was the old investigator, and if the shadows he killed were normal Diesel people, then why are they still here?"

She did not identify who those people were.

But the answer is self-evident.

Ciel knew what she was talking about.

She was saying what a coincidence, it turned out that the inn they stayed in was the same one chosen by the old investigator...but in the story described by the tracing spell, the owner of the inn had clearly been killed.

"The characteristics match exactly," Rachel stared straight into Charles' eyes and said, "You are always hunched over and like to nag. As a user of the tracing spell, you should also know the location of the inn, so please tell me--"

"If the hotel we stayed in was the same one as the investigator, then why was the innkeeper who was killed by the investigator still alive?"

Not only the owner of the inn, but also other Diesel people living near the inn.

The old investigator in the tracing spell killed many Diesel people, perhaps this is one of the important reasons why he finally chose to commit suicide.

But after he committed suicide, all the Diesel people he killed came back to life and lived their lives as usual, just like in the past, everything was so peaceful and harmonious.

Just like the first impression that the tiny country of Diesel gave to the witch and the hero.

——This is a paradise away from the world.

But this is the biggest anomaly, isn’t it?

Once a person is killed, he will die. There is no magic in the Pan-Continent that can resurrect the dead, even if the dead person is the hero's beloved, so the Diesel people killed by the old investigator should not appear again.

But they just showed up alive.

and……

"We didn't hear any news about the old investigator going mad," Charles said suddenly, "all the people in Diesel told us that he disappeared without a trace."

As he spoke, he instinctively placed his hand on the hilt of the holy sword:

"If the investigator was really contaminated and driven by the Slender Man, and killed many people in Diesel during his departure, then this tragedy will definitely be remembered by people..."

Upon hearing this, Lacier quickly continued:

"But no one remembers the tragedy of that year. They all lost their memories, as if someone hypnotized them... No, hypnosis alone cannot revive the dead..."

She suddenly took a deep breath, bit her lip, and then said to Charles seriously:

"The problem is too big, and there are too many anomalies, whether it's the great achievements of His Majesty the Emperor, the corrupted investigator, or..."

Having said this, she paused, as if she suddenly thought of something, and became uneasy and confused.

The witch couldn't help but put her hand to her mouth and gently bit her fingertips:

"This is the second time we have come into contact with the Slender Shadow. The last time was in the Madam's dream of existence. We witnessed the existence of the Slender Shadow with our own eyes. That was one of the possibilities about the future of Lentiheim simulated by the Madam."

"And now, the Slender Ghost has appeared in Diesel, which is adjacent to Lentiheim."

"They have corrupted the investigator and distorted his perception, making him believe that the Diesel people who approached him have turned into monsters. They have hypnotized him and tried to make him take away the unknown box and the non-existent 'student'. They are eager to leave Diesel and go to the neighboring Victoria..."

Lacey suddenly shuddered.

She raised her head suddenly, her expression showing panic for a moment.

But she was also an investigator after all, so she quickly forced herself to calm down and told Charles her guess in the simplest terms:

"Both Lentiheim and Victoria are in danger! Especially Lentiheim!"

Charles understood what she meant instantly, so he nodded seriously, pulled out his chair and stood up:

"Then we must act quickly. No matter what the truth is, the problems and anomalies that have appeared in Diesel are probably beyond the ability of the two of us to solve alone. Therefore, we should complete what the respectable old investigator has not yet completed."

After being contaminated by the Slender Man and his cognition interfered with, the old investigator, whose only desire was to "leave Diesel", had indeed "forgotten" one thing.

The hero thought about it, looked at the witch with his iron-gray eyes, and whispered:

"Let's use the communication spell. We need to convey all abnormalities of Diesel to the outside world."

[To be continued]

-

41.Unknown garbled characters

On the way back to the inn, Lacie walked with her head down, trying to sort out the whole story.

First, there was the magic shock thirty years ago.

At that time, the newly completed monitoring array in the White Tower recorded the magical shock, but because the data was too exaggerated, it was determined to be the result of a malfunction.

Thirty years later, the old investigator who finally noticed the anomaly in the data embarked on a journey to redress the injustice of the monitoring array.

After arriving in Diesel, at the enthusiastic invitation of Crazy John, a local, he made a wish to the wishing well in the Piazza della Signoria, hoping to find out the truth of everything.

Afterwards, he was inexplicably contaminated, and he gradually turned into the thin ghost that appeared in the Elf Matron's "Dream of Existence". Then his cognition was distorted, and he killed many Diesel people who he believed had turned into monsters.

At the same time, something in his brain kept driving him away from Diesel.

But at the end of his life, he came to his senses.

The wishing well fulfilled his wish -

He "saw" the truth.

So, in order to prevent the thing living in his brain from leaving Diesel and spreading the pollution to Victoria, making the situation worse, he calmly stabbed the cane sword into his heart, choosing to retain the last dignity and die as a human being.

Shortly after the old investigator died, someone informed Bai Ta that he planned to stay in Diesel to retire and live out the rest of his life. Sensing something was amiss, Bai Ta sent a second investigator to Diesel.

Not long after, the second investigator also disappeared.

This serious abnormal situation finally attracted the attention of the top leaders of the White Tower, so the Lord of the White Tower personally commissioned the Witch of Dawn and Dusk and the Hero, requesting them to go to Diesel to investigate.

Then, it was what the two witnessed in Diesel.

Lacie bit her finger for a while, then suddenly raised her head, looked at Charles, and said:

"Why do you think the cane left by the old investigator appeared near the throne of the emperor?"

Ciel was silent for a moment, and after thinking carefully, he replied:

"I don't know...but I suspect that the so-called 'truth' that the old investigator saw is related to the Emperor of Diesel."

Upon hearing this, Lacie jumped up in joy unconsciously, stood on tiptoe, and nudged Charles:

"Great, great! Great minds think alike!"

But soon she felt that she shouldn't be so happy - it was really not a pleasant thing to have the same guess as the idiot Charles - what level of person was Charles, to have the same guess as her?

So she quickly straightened her face, skipped the topic, and turned to the message they had sent to the White Tower:

"The Slender Man seems to be contagious in some way. The old investigator is the best example. Although we don't know why he didn't infect other Diesel people after becoming the Slender Man, but instead wanted to leave Diesel almost madly, as if..."

The witch hesitated for a while and gave a metaphor that she thought was appropriate:

"——Just like for Slender Man, Diesel is a cage without sunlight, and they can't wait to escape from it."

The brave man nodded in agreement and added his opinion:

"What you said is correct, but I think the more important reason why the thing that almost devoured the old investigator is eager to leave Diesel is..."

He paused, then suddenly stared at the witch with his iron-gray eyes and asked:

"Do you remember the thin ghost who invaded Lentiheim and infected M'la in the Matron's dream of existence?"

When he said the word "infection", he hesitated. Apparently, he couldn't find the right words to describe the strange scene at that time.

Rachel thought of it, so she nodded and replied:

"I remember that in the dream of existence, Mura was 'replaced' by the thin and tall figure."

Initially, there was only one Slender Man. After Mulla came into contact with the Slender Man, Mulla also became a Slender Man, so there were two Slender Man. Then, as you can imagine, after a period of infection, the number of Slender Man in Lentiheim would soar at an exponential rate.

There is no doubt that Lentiheim will fall soon, followed by Diesel and Victoria, which are adjacent to Lentiheim. Finally, the entire Pangaea may become a hell filled with slender ghosts.

Just imagining that scene, Lacie couldn't help but shudder.

So her expression became serious:

"You mean, the reason why the thin ghost parasitic in the old investigator's body is so eager to leave Diesel is to infect other humans?"

"Ah."

Ciel nodded.

Lacie took a deep breath and bit her finger.

She felt that in order to prevent the Slender Man from polluting other human city-states like the polluted elves in the Dream of Existence, she and Ciel had to do something.

But in fact, there was nothing they could do now - the briefing recording all the investigation results had been sent to the White Tower by Laciel through communication spell.

All they can do now is wait, wait for a response from the White Tower.

However, in addition to their investigation report on Diesel, the message also included a question:

"What kind of person was the Emperor who went to the White Tower to study with Crazy John?"